Talk:Vesak

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Actually Buddha Poornima (or Buddha Purnima) requires a separate article, a redirection from there to Vesak, does not present a comprehensive content. Buddha Poornima and Buddha Jayanti are synonymous, and these cannot be exactly equated with Vesak to which this redirection takes the reader. I am studying the matter further and will do the necessary edits reflecting the reality and the correct position. Comments are invited from the interested editors. --Bhadani 03:32, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Can you elaborate on the distinction? - Nat Kraus e 07:56, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

To begin with, Vesak is a derivative from the Sanskrit word Vaisakh, a month of traditional Hindu calendar. Vaisakh (with different spellings) or Vesak denotes a full lunar month, whereas Buddha Purnima is a particular day of the month, which is the full moon day, rather call it the night of full moon. Purnima is a Sanskrit word and a word used in many other languages of north India, and the meaning of Purnima is the full moon “day” – actually, the night of the full moon. Thus, Buddha Purnima means a particular Purnima associated with Buddha. In a year there shall be as many Purnimas as the lunar months, and there are other special Purnimas also – like Guru Purnima, when sage Vyasa was born. Redirection from Budha Purnima to Vesak is not proper. For a person not very familiar with Indian culture and religions originating in India , the distinction can be told in very simple words: a redirection from Buddha Purnima to Vesak is as funny as making a redirection from X’mas to December. --Bhadani 15:40, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Vesak derives from the word Vaisakh. That's true. However, it's a) a different word, and b) now the common name for the festival in question. If the common name of Christmas was something like Decembron (which is not too hard to imagine), then it would make perfect sense to redirect X’mas to Decembron. If you'd like, perhaps we can move this article to Wesak; that seems to be approximately as common in English. - Nat Krause^(Talk!) 00:23, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Vesak is actually the Sinhalese word for "Vaisakh" and it is now the commenly used word by Buddhists to refer to the full moon day of the month of May. It is "Buddha Purnima." - —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.101.227.10 (talk • contribs) October 30, 2005

"Pathum (from the name of the first month in the Hindu calendar, Vaisakha)" - now is it me or does that, independent of what you're talking about, just make no sense? 81.108.42.219 19:00, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

The article was vandalised by an anonymous user, changing the word Vesak to Pathum. - Nat Krause^(Talk!) 01:23, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

This page uses some of the same language as found on a [ http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,4043,0,0,1,0 Buddhist TV page]. Bosuncookie 00:55, 30 May 2007 (UTC)bosuncookie

1 Neutrality -- eight precepts
2 Capitalization
3 Wikifying
4 Date Chart

[edit] Neutrality -- eight precepts

That list of eight precepts is not common to all Buddhists. Specifically, precepts 6, 7 and 8 are not listed by several Buddhist teachers and masters.

See also Five Precepts, Eight Precepts, and Ten Precepts --Octra Bond (talk) 11:21, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

As a follower of Buddhism, I was exploring around to see what materials there were on Wikipedia when I came across this article. However, I was a little bit concerned about using capitalized pronouns when referring to the Buddha. My understanding was that capitalizing pronouns was generally a Christian thing, and that under no circumstances was writing about the Buddha to be formatted this way. I have been searching for an online reference but so far have not found one. All of my numerous Buddhist books avoid this formatting, but obviously it would be difficult to show them online and I am not sure if they would be widely available as reference sources in general.

There are many different "types" of Buddhism, some of which border on becoming monotheistic wrt their form of worship, so I am not sure if a particular form capitalizes pronouns, or if the article was written by someone following a more Christian format. In a way capitalizing pronouns could be considered disrespectful of the teachings of the Buddha, as he believed that modesty and finding ones own way were paramount. It is my intent to remove the capitalized pronouns in the future to more properly reflect what I understand to be normal formatting for pronouns referring to the Buddha, unless someone can show me a compelling reason not to. I'd appreciate comments about this. I know some may consider this a minor issue but it does cause some concerns and conflicts for me and my beliefs.--CokeBear 03:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Most of this article as it stands is not really a Wikipedia article. What I mean is, it was added by one anonymous user and it has never really been edited to Wikipedi style. I don't know of any other Wikipedia articles that capitalise pronouns in reference to the Buddha. - Nat Krause^(Talk!) 04:11, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikifying

I've done a lot of copyediting and wikifying, namely creating the Holiday Infobox, and linkifying the article. There is still work to be done, but it has at least a basic level of adherance to the MOS now. I'll work on it more later, but I'd appreciate some fact checking from people who know more than I about the holiday, namely, the dates of the holiday in future years (inside the infobox template), and a better image for the infobox. Peace. (and have a happy Vesak!) Phidauex 18:03, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Date Chart

Could someone contribute Vesak date chart on Gregorian calendar? I want to see the dates in 10 years backwards and forwards. --Octra Bond (talk) 11:26, 25 May 2008 (UTC)